Wesley Snipes fights prison sentence for tax crimes

November 15, 2010|By Stephen Hudak, Orlando Sentinel

OCALA — An attorney for Wesley Snipes urged a federal judge Monday to conduct an inquiry of jurors who convicted the movie star of tax crimes, alleging that some of them believed he was guilty before his trial began.

"One dishonest juror (or) one dishonest witness frustrates the system," Snipes' attorney Daniel Meachum told U.S. District Court Judge William Terrell Hodges. "It makes a mockery of all that you do and all that we do when a juror does this."

If Snipes hopes to avoid prison, his lawyers will have to convince Hodges to grant a new trial either on grounds of jury misconduct or "tainted" testimony given by Kenneth Star, the actor's former investment adviser.

Hodges gave no timetable for a decision after the two-hour hearing but promised to "decide promptly."

Snipes, 48, who portrayed a wrongly accused fugitive in the drama "U.S. Marshals," was convicted in 2008 of willfully failing to file federal tax returns, but contends the jury verdicts and trial in Ocala were unjust.

This summer, a federal appeals court disagreed.

But Meachum, an Atlanta-based lawyer who heads Snipes' defense team, presented the judge with two unsolicited emails he received from jurors, each claiming that three other members of the jury panel revealed during deliberations that they were convinced of the actor's guilt before the first witness testified.

The jurors' names and email addresses were redacted from documents available to the public.

Snipes, a martial-arts expert who is best known as the vampire-killing title character in the "Blade" science-fiction trilogy, did not appear at the hearing, which could decide if and how soon he must report to the Bureau of Prisons. Free on bail since his conviction, Snipes faces a 36-month sentence if his latest appeals fail.

He completed several film projects since his conviction, including the cop drama, "Brooklyn's Finest."

Meachum said he would likely ask an appeals court to review the issues if Hodges rules against the film star – and Snipes has until Dec. 28 to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a review. In either case, Snipes could sit in prison while awaiting future appeals as prosecutors also urged Hodges to revoke the actor's bail.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Barksdale argued that Snipes' latest issues are weak. She said federal trial rules discourage courts from prying into jury deliberations without compelling evidence of misconduct.

She said the rule is meant to protect jurors from second-guessers.

Barksdale also dismissed Meachum's arguments assailing the testimony of Starr, a "wanna-be (Bernie) Madoff" who pleaded guilty to bank and wire fraud in September for swindling millions from celebrity clients.

Meachum suggested that prosecutors hid an ongoing investigation of Starr from the defense because it would have damaged Starr's credibility and weakened their case against Snipes, who squared an estimated $13-million federal tax debt on the day he was sentenced.

But Barksdale disputed that.

She said prosecutors in Snipes' case were unaware that Starr was under investigation when he testified in Ocala and, nonetheless, his testimony against Snipes was substantiated by documents and other witnesses.

Starr ended his professional relationship with Snipes after warning him that he would be making a serious mistake if he followed the advice of Eddie Ray Kahn, a Lake County man who sold illegal, tax-dodging schemes.

Kahn, who was sentenced to 10 years as a co-defendant in Snipes' case, told the actor he had no legal obligation to pay federal income tax. He ran the now-defunct American Rights Litigators from offices in Mount Dora.